Hey guess what? I've found something that I learned in school that I've actually found useful for outside purpouses! It's called a brain dump and I'm pleased to bring it to your attencion.
It is what it sounds like- a simple spilling of whatevers in your head. You can do it on a cretain topic or just the first things that pop into your head. You can list of write sentences or doodle or rant. Just go.
My teaches taught me this to help with essay topics in english (once) and essay questions in history (repeatedly). The reasoning of my english teacher was to find out what you care about enough to write about, and the rational os the history department was that if you wrote down everything you could think of about a question than chances are that something will be correct so they can give you credit on the test.
I personally use it for writing talks and creative writing, and thus have altered the technique a little bit (hence the doodles and listing). I love doinf this because when I just have ideas spinning in no useful order for a story or talk I can jjuat spit them out as they come and worry about deciphering them later and making them fit. My head is usually so full of random ideas or details about whatever I'm doing that I have to get it all out before I can actually think. So I ramble on a scrap page or the margins of a given outline, or open a clean page in my notebook, and go for it. Oddly enough it works- so I am greatful to my teachers for introducing the idea.
Point of this drabble? Tip from the writer's shop: keep the brain dump on file. Whenever you need to organize, inspire, or brainstorm, have at it and see if it helps. At the very least it may get rid of your writer's block and give you a good idea or phrase to work with.
ENJOY!
